Statistics 419-10

Recording information:
JEB 025
MWF 10:30-11:20
24 August - 18 December 2015

Instructor: Renae Shrum
Office: Brink 411
Email: renaes@uidaho.edu
Phone: 885-2901(direct) or 885-2929 (department office)
Office hours: Current classes

Websites:
http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/~renaes/Stat419EOhome.html
http://www.bblearn.uidaho.edu

Required materials

Text Book
None
Course Prerequisite
Stat 251 or equivalent coursework.

Learning Outcomes

Coverage of a variety of methods for data manipulation, data management, and programming in the SAS and R languages. Programming methods including data transformation, functions for numeric and character data, input of complicated data files, and do/for loop usage. Data management topics include concatenating data files, sorting and merging data files. Programming with SAS modules such as SAS/Graph, SAS/IML, and SAS/Macro language; also use of R packages and special functions within the packages. There will be very little statistics in this class; some basic statistical procedures will be in the last weeks of the course.

Grading

90% A, 80% B, and so on.

1.  6 Homework assignments (20%)
2.  3 Exams (60%)
3.  3 Lab assignments (20%)

Course Work

The due dates for all work is listed on the Lectures page, including links to the homework assignments. No work will be accepted late without prior notification and consent. Makeup work will only be accepted if you let me know about the late work in advance. No exceptions. For information about student services, contact the Dean of Students.

Homework

There will be homework assignments. Completing the assignments will be essential to your understanding of the material. Homework will be administered through BbLearn. They are administered in a manner similar to quizzes but you will have up to 3 tries to get the highest grade. Homework questions will be related to the code learned in class.

Labs

If you have a laptop, I encourage you to bring it to class on only Fridays. Every Friday will be a "lab" day and we will do some work within the class. I will show a small example and then let you work on your laptop. If you do not have one or do not bring one, then I encourage you to work with a student that does to get something from the labs. There are 13 scheduled labs, out of which I will collect the work from 3 random labs to grade for points. All lab work must be your own (see homework policy). I will want the following things from each randomly collected lab:

From SAS:
• The code from the SAS editor window
• The text from the SAS log

From R:
• Your script code

Labwork will be due within 1-2 class periods after the lab. You will need to copy and paste the required materials into either a Word, Pages, or PDF file (only one of these 3 will be accepted unless I specify otherwise). Then you will attach the file in BbLearn in the designated place.

Exams

Exams will be in class and are set in the schedule and are open notes (your own). You will need to know concepts and syntax for exams.

Academic Honesty

For academic integrity standards and procedures, please consult Article II of your student handbook. Breaches of academic integrity will not be tolerated and will result in an F for the course and referral to the Dean of Students for further disciplinary action.

Classwork Policy

In a course that bases much of the grade on homework and lab work, the discussion of cheating and defining what exactly that means is very important.

It is considered cheating if:
• Copy someone's program -- obviously
• Adapt or paraphrase someone's program (i.e., change variable names)
• Look at someone's program to see how the problem can be solved and then write a program following their exact approach
• To allow anyone to do any of the above with your programs

It is not cheating to:
• Ask for advise
• Ask someone what an error message means
• Discuss various approaches to solving a problem
• Show someone some code and ask their opinion

If you are unsure, ask me. Your very first assignment is to read this and send me an email message acknowledging that you have read and understand the policy.

Disability Support Services

Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have documented temporary or permanent disabilities. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services in order to notify your instructor(s) as soon as possible regarding accommodations needed for the course. DSS contact information: Idaho Commons Building room 306, phone (208) 885-6307 and email dss@uidaho.edu.